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Citation |
Bianchi R, Schonfeld IS. Scand. J. Psychol. 2018; 59(5): 532-539. |
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Affiliation |
Department of Psychology, The City College of the City University of New York, New York City, NY, USA. |
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Copyright |
(Copyright © 2018, Scandinavian Psychological Associations, Publisher John Wiley and Sons) |
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DOI |
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PMID |
29958322 |
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Abstract |
Burnout has been defined as a condition in which individuals are left exhausted by a long-term confrontation with unmanageable job stressors. The question of whether burnout reflects anything other than depressive responses to unresolvable stress remains an object of debate. In this 911-participant study (83% female; mean age: 42.36), we further addressed the issue of burnout-depression overlap. Burnout was assessed with the exhaustion subscale of the Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey (MBI-GS) and depression with the PHQ-8. The relationships of burnout and depression with three job-related variables - illegitimate work tasks, work-nonwork interference, and job satisfaction - and three "context-free" variables - social support, general health status, and trait anxiety - were examined. Burnout and depression were found to be strongly correlated, to cluster together, and to exhibit overlapping nomological networks. Remarkably, the average correlations of burnout and depression with job-related variables were almost identical. A principal component analysis and a principal axis factor analysis both showed that the items of the MBI-GS and of the PHQ-8 loaded on a single dimension. All in all, our findings are consistent with the view that burnout is a depressive condition. The distinction between burnout and depression may be an instance of the jangle fallacy. Language: en |
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Keywords |
Anxiety; factor analysis; health; illegitimate work task; mood; stress |